“UNHCR – Bitter-sweet family reunion in Sicily for Mediterranean capsize survivors,” from UNHCR:

On a recent emotionally charged November evening, members of four families were reunited in an isolated Sicilian commune far from their troubled homeland. They were linked by a terrible tragedy.

The 13 Syrian refugees in the town hall of Sant’Angelo Muxaro were passengers on a Europe-bound smuggler’s boat that capsized on October 11 some 95 kilometres from Lampedusa Island, the southernmost territory of Italy. The Italian coastguard and Malta’s Navy managed to save 211 people, but 27 bodies have been recovered and more than 250 are missing feared lost in the Mediterranean.

In the confusion, many family members who had survived were separated from each other, with unaccompanied children being taken to Sicily and adults to Malta. Waiting to hear about loved ones was an ordeal, but the families at Sant’Angelo Muxaro had been told as soon as possible about the fate of their missing relatives…